Poland, Cyprus elevated to 'very high risk' on Czech COVID-19 travel map

Poland and Cyprus will go from the red category of high-risk states to the dark-red category of very high risk for COVID-19 on the Czech Republic's updated travel map, the Czech Health Ministry announced on Friday.

Additionally, Denmark and Norway will go from medium-risk orange to high-risk red in the new map, valid as of Monday.

For Czech residents, return travel from these countries will become more complicated as of Monday.

On the other hand, Ireland will go from high-risk red to medium-risk orange, and Slovenia from very-high-risk dark red to high-risk red.

Passengers returning to the Czech Republic from very-high-risk (dark red) countries have to undergo a PCR test before departure, and have to quarantine upon arrival in the Czech Republic.

After five days, they can take another PCR test and end the quarantine if they test test negative. At present, the dark red countries on the map include a small number of EU members, including Czech neighbor Slovakia, and most countries outside the EU, including Britain.

Travelers returning from high-risk (red) countries need to take an antigen or PCR test before departure and quarantine upon arrival. Unlike travelers from dark red countries, they can take another test within five days of arrival and end the quarantine if negative for COVID-19.

As of Monday, red countries will include Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Croatia, Italy, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Monaco, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the Canary Islands.

Those returning from the medium-risk (orange) need to take an antigen or PCR test before departure, but do not need to quarantine on arrival.

As of Monday, the orange states are Ireland, Portugal except for Madeira, and the Balearic Islands.

For three weeks now, Czech residents have been banned from travelling to countries with extreme risk of the South African mutation of coronavirus, which includes Botswana, Brazil, Eswatini, South Africa, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Currently, non-Czech residents are not allowed not to enter the Czech Republic except for urgently necessary reasons.